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Modelling oil reservoirs : analog computing at British Petroleum
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Care, Charles (2006) Modelling oil reservoirs : analog computing at British Petroleum. University of Warwick. Department of Computer Science. (Computer Science Research Report). (Unpublished)
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Abstract
During the early 1960s an analog computer was installed at British Petroleum (BP) to model the hydrodynamics of oil fields. The computer was custom built but influenced by similar machines developed for the American companies Carter Oil and Sun Oil. Why did BP choose to install an analog computer at this time? Did they perceive analog as complementary or inferior to digital? To explain why a seemingly backward technology was still being installed during the 1960s, we need to differentiate between a user perspective and an application perspective. Coming from an application perspective, I suggest that the BP engineers focused mainly on the suitability and simplicity of analog rather than the modern, progressive, but expensive technology of digital. This article investigates the history of reservoir modelling by analog computer, the American machines that inspired the BP machine and the engineering culture that procured it.
| Item Type: | Report | ||||
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| Subjects: | Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Electronic computers. Computer science. Computer software | ||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Computer Science | ||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Analog computers, British Petroleum Company, Oil fields -- Computer simulation | ||||
| Series Name: | Computer Science Research Report | ||||
| Publisher: | University of Warwick. Department of Computer Science | ||||
| Official Date: | 18 May 2006 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Number 424 | ||||
| Number of Pages: | 22 | ||||
| DOI: | CS-RR-424 | ||||
| Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
| Status: | Not Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access | ||||
| Funder: | University of Warwick. Department of Computer Science | ||||
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